Civil Rights Advocacy group, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has condemned the proliferation of pre-election related violence in some flash points of Bayelsa, Kogi and Imo states where, governorship elections are scheduled for Saturday November 11.

Blaming desperation of politicians who want to gain political power by crooked means, the group emphasised that if leadership of state governments is about selfless service, then those who inherently desire to lead their states, need not kill their people just to be announced winners.

According to the national coordinator of the group, Emmanuel Onwubiko, the danger in cornering political office of state governor by bloodshed, hook or crook, is that the person brought to power through bloodshed will inevitably needs to survive by embarking on more violent ways to sustain their tenure of office so as to maximally siphon the resources accruable to their states through the federation account and internally generated revenues”.

The rights group said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should use the coming off-circle elections in Imo, Bayelsa and Kogi as a litmus test to write his name in gold as a statesman by not unduly influencing the conduct and outcome of the elections but should provide the enabling environment for a free, fair transparent elections to happen whereby the will of the voters would be respected by National Electoral Commission, (INEC).

“We regret to assert that the electoral management body which is the INEC, has remained a cesspool of electoral heist and the officials who mismanaged previous elections and were left unpunished, are now accustomed to the fact that official impunity is not so much a problem and these rogue officials believe that they can undermine elections and the heavens would’nt fall”, the group said.

HURIWA, which also scored the security operatives especially the police and members of the armed forces, very low, in terms of neutrality, is hereby tasking the chief of defence staff, the National Security Adviser, the Service Chiefs, including the IGP, DG of Director of States Services (DSS), that it is their onerous task to check any attempt by armed political thugs to disrupt the electoral process on Saturday.

HURIWA reminded the Service Chiefs that these elections being the very first that they will be securing, would also serve as a litmus test to ascertain their patriotism and their commitment to constitutional democracy in real time and not just on the pages of newspapers.

“We urge the Service Chiefs to be neutral, patriotic and statesmanly, and not to be compromised by politicians wielding immense cash who are desperate to corner to themselves, the offices of governor of their respective states in the coming elections.

“We demanded action against would -be riggers and disruptors of the off-circle polls to serve as deterrent to others just as the Rights group said it is abnormal for INEC officials who manipulate elections to be left off the hook without making them face the full weight of the law,” the group added.